Trout stocking under way in Western Massachusetts

The first of 529,000 brook, brown, rainbow and tiger trout went out this week with more to follow as weather and stocking truck operations improve.

Meanwhile, there is the Quabbin Question – will the Big Lady be receiving visitors April 16 as scheduled or will she turn an icy shoulder to us reservoir people. Presently, Quabbin ice is breaking up slowly and at first appearances the ice will hold tough. A decision will be made April 8 on the opening date.

For the latest info contact the Quabbin Visitors Center.

Meanwhile all would-be trout trickers be it known there are a lot of trout out, both recently stocked and holdovers.

Going out are brook, brown, rainbow and tiger trout. Try to take one of each in the same day for a four-bagger and let me know if you are successful.

For years I tried to get a triple, downing a pheasant, ruffed grouse and woodcock in the same day. Twenty-two years after first trying, Luck was a lady as a female timberdoodle fell before my .20 gauge over and under.

More than 71 percent of the fish to be stocked are more than a foot-long lunkers, according to chief fish culturist Dr. Ken Simmons.

The listing of waters stocked most recently can by had by contacting theDistrict Offices. Each Friday the list of waters stocked that week will be announced.

For those who like numbers there will be 217,000 rainbow averaging 14 inches or longer along with 86,000 additional rainbows 9 to 12 inches long. More than 51,400 browns in the 12-inch category will be stocked along with 92,000 browns 6 to 12 inches.

Brook trout will see 51,000 9- to 12-inch fish go out while more than 26,499 more than a foot are slated for drops. There will be 6,000 plus tiger trout, all over 14 inches. They are a cross between a female brownie and a male brookie. The larger bodies of water will receive the largest fish while others will get medium and smaller fish.

BELIEVE IT OR NOT: All right, I’ll bite, despite knowing that April is kicked off by April 1 notoriously known as April Fools’ Day, I have fish tales that leave you questioning whether I am slinging the bull, outdoor lying or suffering severe dementia.

Well first of all I do at times sling the bull (I have to make a living); lie (but only to save my butt) and am into dementia, but the following is the truth.

This is a fish tale that involves a large sailfish that wears jewelry and was caught twice by the same fisherman.

Seeing that you do not 100 percent trust my veracity, know that this was checked out by numerous people, photographed before and after and by a polygraph and survived the greatest test of all – the acceptance by Believe It or Not by Ripley.

Ms. Rork reported, in part, the following: Angler Eric Bartos, fishing with friends to relieve the pressure of a divorce he was going through, landed and tagged a large sailfish. He slipped off his wedding band and slipped it on the bill of the fish before releasing it.

Two years later, while fishing with the same friends he hooked into and landed another huge sailfish, and they recognized it immediately as perhaps the only fish in the world wearing a wedding ring.

With all the fish in the ocean the odds of catching the same sailfish fish are more than remote; they are nearly impossible.

A denouement in the tale is that Bartos’ former wife took it as a sign to make peace.

OTHER TALES: Something similar but on a less grand scale was reported by this columnist over the years.

The first was about a fisherman who lost his rod and reel over the side of a boat during the excitement of trying to land a fish.

A year later he snapped something. Yup, he retrieved the rod and reel he had lost.

I bore witness to another Dr. Strangelove episode. My late fishing buddy and I were fishing when a big bass busted off his line, taking his antique clothespin lure and made off with it.

Later that same season he landed the same bass and he was overjoyed to retrieve the rare lure and swore never to fish it again.

And he kept it in his tackle box as a good luck omen.

That’s the good news.

The bad news is that someone later broke into his truck and stole the box and its contents.

A thrilling catch was reported here years ago. A fisherman hooked into a hand grenade (apparently someone was trying a new type of fishing) and the pin was pulled. It did not explode, as the handle had not released.

To end on a high note, a couple of fishermen, boiling hot in mid-July hooked into something that was heavy but not fighting.

It was a six-pack of beer someone had slid over the side of the boat for cooling off.

NEW YORK DEER FINALS: There were just over 230,000 whitetails shot in New York this past season, approximately 3 percent more than the previous year.

There were 107,000 mature bucks shot, 123,300 antlerless animals.

DEER HUNTING YOUTHS: More than 16,000 young people participated in deer hunting under the state’s youth hunter program. They harvested 4,900 animals.